


Tethered

by Kingrey



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, also some cuddles... some kisses... you know how it is, post-Episode: s02e11 Peril on the High Seas, this is a more angsty take but it's still canon compliant!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:40:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26184358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kingrey/pseuds/Kingrey
Summary: It took until the end of the fight for Rapunzel to see that he had been scared of the cannon the Stabbingtons were pointing at her boat, and that he had been trying to save her, again.It took even longer for her to understand that Eugene hadn’t fallen because of a punch.
Relationships: Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider/Rapunzel
Comments: 12
Kudos: 93





	Tethered

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dreaminginscenes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreaminginscenes/gifts).



> Ahhhh hello!! It has been a little while?  
> This is a mix of a lot of things but I received the prompt "Is that blood?", and then the fabulous Dreaming-In-Seams on tumblr gave me the idea of a Peril on the High Seas follow-up and finally some of this is kinda inspired by her wonderful art!! You should go check it out <3 also check out her fics!
> 
> I hope you'll like this!!

From where she was, Rapunzel couldn't get a good look at Eugene. For now, everything was going according to her plan, and she was confident that they would get Eugene and Max back from the prison boat, but she could only get glimpses of them fighting, and her worry kept growing. Should she jump in to help? Would the others still manage this boat if she let them alone without warning?

_I trust Eugene_ , she repeated herself, deciding to stay put a little longer.

The Stabbingtons and him went down from the mat, and she raised her head, trying to get a good look at the situation. Something happened - she wasn't sure what, but Eugene suddenly looked horrified, even from a distance, and when she saw him run towards one of the brothers carelessly, her heart skipped a beat.

The brother stopped Eugene. He was tall, towering above her boyfriend, and she couldn't _see_ , couldn’t _do_ anything, couldn't even watch. In barely a second, Eugene was collapsing to the ground and she didn't even know why.

"Eugene?!" she called, and her voice didn't break but her heart felt untethered, because Eugene couldn't- She wasn't there with him, she hadn't jumped, and if he- if he- She couldn’t even say it. Time slowed, or reversed, taking her back to that time when she hadn't screamed hard enough, hadn't warned Eugene in time - sweet, loving Eugene, who had fought to come back for her, but for whom she hadn't managed the same, and that had cost him his life.

Eugene getting back up on the boat cut through her spiralling thoughts, and Rapunzel realised she had stopped breathing. Here he was, moving and talking and joking, taunting the Stabbingtons as he always did while looking completely fine, and if she didn't understand exactly what had happened, the overwhelming relief was still enough to nearly make her waver.

It took until the end of the fight for her to see that he had been scared of the cannon the Stabbingtons were pointing at her boat, and that he had been trying to save her, _again_.

It took even longer for her to understand that Eugene hadn’t fallen because of a punch.

They were still at the dock, sitting with their legs dangling above the water, because Rapunzel hadn't wanted to come back to the caravan just yet, and Eugene was always happy to stay with her. The evening had long since fallen, and she had her head on his shoulder, silently watching the stars shining in the night sky with his hand in hers. The air was a bit chilly, but Eugene was warm against her, one of his arms enveloping her shoulders, and this was all she ever needed - feeling him breathe and move and be _alive_ never failed to make her smile. They didn't need words, at times like these.

A stronger gust of wind made Rapunzel shiver, and she snuggled closer to Eugene unconsciously. Usually, he would have tightened his grip around her, made space for her, because he enjoyed their hugs just as much as she did - but this time was different. If she didn't know him as well as she did, she might have not noticed it, might have let it slide, but it was _Eugene_.

And Eugene never cringed away from a hug if something wasn't wrong.

He corrected it quickly, but it was too late - she moved her head away so her eyes could meet his, and she saw the brief lines of pain on his face before he expertly smoothed them out.

"Eugene?" Rapunzel asked softly, her right hand going to his chest - but he grimaced, and she didn't finish the movement, her fingers hovering uncertainly above his heart. "What's wrong?"

She saw the hesitation in his eyes, the seconds in which he considered lying, or at least softening his answer, but she wasn't surprised to see him sigh in the end, wasn't surprised that he chose the truth. Eugene had spent years not trusting anyone with his vulnerabilities, years where he lied to everyone, including himself, until he was convinced that he didn't need help, that he was fine alone. She didn't care that he hesitated; she was humbled that, each time, despite his instincts and habits, Eugene chose to trust her, chose to confide in _her_.

His hand went up and softly touched hers, guiding it closer to his clothes, and closer to his heart, too.

"Don't freak out?" he whispered, and she understood the callback for what it was, but his tone was frail enough that she couldn't muster a smile.

The sea under their feet was still moving, unperturbed, its waves flowing in rhythm with her heart. Her hand was trembling, or maybe it was his, but together they inched closer to his jacket, and she gently pushed it aside.

"Is… Is that blood?" she asked, already knowing that it was because the moon was shining bright tonight, and Rapunzel couldn't escape the dark spot of red standing out in front of her eyes. Couldn't escape the memories flooding in her mind, taking her back to the tower for the second time today, as she remembered discovering his wound and realising, deep in her bones, that he was going to die if she didn't heal him.

She couldn't heal anymore.

"It's not too deep," Eugene said, his tone lighter as he tried to push her hand away, but she didn't let him. She hadn't noticed, at first, but even his jacket had a hole in it. When she refused to drop the subject, refused to make light of it, Eugene took her hand instead, and guided her to his cheek, until she managed to tear her gaze from the blood, and look at him. "I'm fine," he whispered, repeating it softly when tears gathered in her eyes. "It doesn't even hurt, Max's book took the brunt of it."

A sob built in Rapunzel's throat before she could stop it; because she understood, now, what she had witnessed earlier - and all the horror was crashing upon her at once, drowning her as she realised the full scale of what she might have lost in a single second. What she might have lost _again_. Because she chose to wait, chose to let Eugene deal with the Stabbingtons, and he collapsed and… And- what if, her mind screamed, what if there had been no book in between the knife and his heart? What if he bled out there, with her so near and so far at the same time, what if she had been helpless to save him because her stupid hair lost its purpose, what-

"Hey, hey," Eugene interrupted, his warm hands going to her face and tenderly brushing her runaway tears. "I'm okay."

"I know," she exhaled, her voice shaky, "I'm sorry, I know, but- but-"

"No, don't be sorry, that's- that was scary. I'm sorry I told you like this," he said, and she chuckled weakly at his bashful look, even though it wasn't really funny. Her emotions felt on edge, all of them roaring to be let out at once, and- she knew she was overreacting, but she wasn't, too. It wasn't a simple scare - it was her worst fear coming close to be a reality, for the second time.

Rapunzel closed her eyes for a second, soaking in the warmth from his hands on her face, trying to calm her racing heartbeat. When she opened them again, Eugene was still here, smiling at her, breathing with her, his hair moving slowly with the wind. He was alive.

And he was hurt.

She took a deep breath, hoping for tears to recede like the sea was doing under them, hoping to find strength in the salty air making Eugene feel so much warmer against her cold skin. "We should put a bandage on this."

"I don't think it's bleeding anymore," Eugene answered, his eyes never leaving hers, "but it does kinda ache if I move, so you're probably right."

"Probably?" she smiled, her eyes still shining.

"Always are," Eugene laughed, before they both got up.

Rapunzel was still oddly shaky as they walked to the caravan, her hand tight around Eugene's because she couldn’t bear the thought of being separated from him right now. She needed him to be fine. And he was, she knew he was, that it was merely a scratch, but she… She still needed to check for herself.

Thankfully, they had her side of the caravan to themselves. Rapunzel turned her back on Eugene to light up the candle, since the moonlight filtering through the windows wasn't enough to see clearly, and she took those few seconds to brace herself - she wasn't scared of blood, per se, but seeing _Eugene_ bleeding always managed to make her feel like she couldn't breathe right.

When she turned back, Eugene was sitting shirtless on the bed, looking at his white undershirt stained with blood. It wasn't a lot - not like his _other_ shirt had been when he finally got it off after the Tower, and that she had only seen months after, when she realised that he had kept it. _I'm sentimental_ , he had joked, but his voice had felt empty as he held the proof that he had died once, and all Rapunzel could do was hold him until they had both been certain that he was here, and he wasn't going anywhere.

But even if it was only a small stain today, the serious look on his face told her that Eugene was also more shaken than he was willing to admit. They were both trying to wrangle their emotions, their memories back under the lids where they shoved them but…

But they didn't need to. Eugene didn't need to hide his hurt and his fears with her, just like she didn't need to conceal the tremors of her hands and the wetness of her eyes. They could count on each other.

Rapunzel grabbed the first aid kit, noticing that they would need to find more bandages soon, and went to sit next to Eugene. He angled his body towards her without words, and she finally saw the source of all their worries. The wound was a tiny vertical line above his heart, a little above two inches, and deep enough that it had bled and ached quite a bit, even though it was far from the worst thing Eugene had ever experienced. And yet, when Rapunzel brought fabric near the wound to wipe off some of the dried blood, her hand was still shaking.

She kept seeing him fall back there. Kept imagining the worst, and kept feeling thankful that it hadn't happened - and guilty that it was only by pure luck, that she hadn't been there to save him like she promised herself she always would. She couldn’t lose Eugene. Each day that passed, each hour that made her fall in love with him a little more reminded her of how she could have lost it all at the very beginning. Eugene... Eugene _dying_ had been the worst moment of her life. She hadn't thought herself able to heal from it back then, when she had cried over his corpse feeling like her own life was ending; but now that she knew, exactly, how it felt to live everyday while loving him?

Rapunzel knew she would _never_ recover.

"Thank you," Eugene murmured when she applied the bandage, the wound looking like nothing more than a scratch now that it was covered. Maybe it would leave a scar, but that wasn't even sure.

"Of course," she said, her voice as quiet as his. They had no reason to be, but this didn't feel like a moment to be loud.

Her fingers brushed the bandage's outline tenderly, nearly scared that her touch would hurt him. She felt Eugene's hand pushing her hair behind her ear, and when their eyes met again, their lips had to follow suit. Eugene's mouth tasted like the ocean today, and she remembered the fear that gripped her once she realised him and Maximus had gone overboard. Her hands sneaked around his neck and pulled him closer, until his skin was flush against hers. She felt his shoulders move as he shifted and grabbed her waist, felt his chest expand as he breathed, felt how he trembled as she did when his mouth went to her neck and he buried his head in the crook of her shoulder.

"Nothing really happened," she heard him mumble - a confession, in a way, of his own shame at his strong reaction. Both of them were overreacting, and not. Because both of them had suffered through the same events, and from the same trauma, and not. If Eugene hadn't had the book; if Stabbington had pushed the knife a little harder; if- If her magical hair hadn't worked one last time…

"It was still scary," she reminded him, echoing his earlier sentiment, and Eugene laughed against her skin, his hair tickling her softly.

When he kissed her again, Eugene felt more pressing, more insistent, more desperate; and she responded in kind. At some point, she made them both lie down fully on the bed, with her above Eugene, and she scrutinised his wound again - watched the bandage move as he heaved, the white contrasting with his now flushed skin. She saw his mouth open, always ready to offer comfort at the smallest sign she was upset, but she pressed her lips against his again, feeling his stubble on her chin and his hair under her hands, hoping that he knew she wished to comfort him too.

And when she watched him sleep that night, safe in her arms, she knew that they were both ready to give anything for the other to be happy. Maybe their adventure was dangerous, maybe their lives would be in peril again, but their love was warm, and real, and bright; and some nights, it was all that really mattered.

**Author's Note:**

> I love this episode a lot but I'm always in favor of adding more angst, so I did :') I hope you enjoyed this!!
> 
> (also, capital information: eugene is totally the little spoon here)


End file.
